Imaginary Fun!

The Imaginary Zine is a 60-page old school printed zine recounting our first 10 years with some of our favorite blog posts and stories from our imaginary friends. It is extemely limited with only 333 handcrafted zines made.

It also includes a cd chock full of rare, live, or exclusive songs by some of our favorite local artists, including The Long Winters, BOAT, Tullycraft, Exohxo, Tennis Pro, Math & Physics Club and many more!

Recommended shows

I am going to tell you what I know about this year's Bumbershoot line up for its full three days -- fortunately, it's a great year and there's almost too much to chat about! Thus, I'll be breaking it down in parts. And I know a little bit about a lot of things, and parts of things (I keep them in my drawers). But there are some other things that I don't know that much about so will either leave them out... or, take completely random and perhaps inappropriate wild-ass swings at previewing them! So, without further ado:

Things I wanna wanna do on Saturday, 8/31:

Dave B (12:30 p.m., Fountain Lawn Stage)

Sometimes a fella or boo just wants to jam it. Doesn't want to hear about the economy, doesn't want to hear a bunch of threats or emotional larceny, doesn't need some drizzling "profound" sound effects in ponderous drip-hop mode, but merely wants to hit the beach or dance on the bleachers at a sports afterparty. Bumbershoot kicks out withrecent Sound Off! wildcard winner Dave B, who didn't hit me when I first heard him a while back. But then he slayed us all sweetly at the Capitol Hill Block Party (his happily pureandtrue hip-hop set was a high point), and I'm primed for this live flesh follow up of his freshness. Gotta get his long-been-out The Coffee EP pronto.

Mike Vecchione and Marc Maron (1 p.m., Comedy at the Playhouse)

Always take in a Marc Maron joint. He can be as nasty as he wants to be and still plays nice with others. I probably don't have to hype this too much, and Marc performs throughout the festival, this is just the first shot and I thought I'd mention it. He reminds me of my father-in-law if the dude was as well-read and more neurotic like me, which I guess says a lot about my wife. Anyways, when you think of Marc Maron, think of Californication if it starred a comedian.

Nacho Picasso (1:15 p.m., TuneIn Stage)

XXL and Vibe love him now, but that's not why you need to get involved. There's a Cubist antagonism to NP's rants, tucked inside a city at the end of an all night rampage epilogue feel. It's dark, it's art, it's trap, and for regional rap it seems neither grotesquely falsely humble or hive-minded deluded about who's really cutting the checks and getting the minstrel spotlight.

Down North (2 p.m., Plaza Stage)

One of the most underrated bands in the Pacific NW, Down North is tough enough to be jam-it Afro-punk, stylish enough to buy your lady a drink with a smile you just gotta forgive, soulful enough to bring the spirit of Michael Jackson into your neighborhood church, and born to make you bounce into the crowd. What I love about them the most is that I could totally see them kicking ass in an East Coast club between sets of no wave bands and noise units, bringing the heat and the heart to the art school scene. Yes, they're that smart and that on fire.

Okay, because I was obsessed with DMX too I will probably be at Kendrick to hear more and say I was there. I hear he was part of someone else's song and apparently named some names, something that never, ever happens in rap! Otherwise, if Down North drenched me in dance sweat, I will be seeing a bunch of word scribblers yammer about stuff I'm into while it's still light out.

How Was Your Week? with guest Ted Leo (4:45 p.m., Comedy at the Bagley)

Ted Leo is a man I really want to see interviewed live, and this podcast conducts great interviews. Ted Leo. Damn! So many things I want to ask him. I might take this one over, wrestling the mic from Julie Klausner (nah, I'm sure she'll do fine. But if there's a chance for audience questions, be ready lady!)

The Physics (5:15 p.m., Fountain Lawn Stage)

Keep up with The Physics. That's what they say. They slyly subvert a lot of their contemporaries with lyrical surprises, nuanced rhythms, and choice samples. It's been "next big thing" yap for years but it really should happen.

Fantagraphics Follies (6 p.m., Words & Ideas Stage)

One-time maniacal punk music manager and now publishing maven Larry Reid hosts this roiling ode to the mightiest publisher alive, with talents like sublime graphic novelist Ellen Forney (Marbles, The Stranger), completely mesmerizing fine artist Jim Woodring (Jim and Frank and many other books), indie comics comedian Kelly Froh, and others entertaining us in weird and wonderful ways. Special happenings: Can You Imagine? plays! That's right, that girl group from comix-punk heaven lights down to light up the Words & Ideas stage! (Fantagraphics' own Peter Bagge plays drums for this sweetness.) This one will be packed out. Get in line on Friday, champs.

Emmett loves the strange, and wallows around in it with us comedically, but it's his humanistic touch, his gentle heart, his mindful awe that keeps his entertainments from seeming like a mere freak show. He always puts out a positive vibe even when things get Hunter Thompson-level "professional" (i.e., bonkers).

Gary Numan, (8 p.m., TuneIn Stage)

You might not believe this, if you only know him from his hits, but Gary is killer live. Yeah, I know, sometimes synth-based artists aren't that inspiring, just standing there singing like robots as they push some buttons. Gary was a rocker first, and has cultivated an impressive following of fans who have been buying his albums whenever he cares to release them, and bone up on the live boots and such as well. This isn't "new wave exploitation" by Bumbershoot by any means; Gary's a worker, and has been rocking audiences regularly for as long as you've been clapping your hands to that synth-drum beat in "Cars." I can't wait to see him play "Praying To The Aliens" and most especially "Down In The Park" live -- the latter song being a common cover by discerning, loving GM fans in bands all over the indie world.

Heart (9:45 p.m., Main Stage)

If you're a Seattle area kid of a good span of ages, you remember when they made the covers of magazines like Rolling Stone, spending many an incense-burning evening in a park listening to Dreamboat Annie etc. on your car stereo, turned up LOUD to seduce the minds of hicks from Eastern Washington. They've always rocked, and we've never not been proud of them. (Everyone gets a pass for 80s shoulder pads these days.) This show will be super powerful for anyone who has never caught Ann and Nancy soulfully putting their wild, witchy, loving talents out there for everyone to soak in. Do it. And for those who have caught 'em a few times as I have, we'll be back in the Black Velvet saddle again.

Latest comment by: Cameron Lowe: "Agree JC was a great show and thoroughly looking forward to next year already, do you know if they have decided upon dates yet?
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The lineup has been announced, and it's a doozy! The Long Winters performing When I Pretend to Fall, Nada Surf performing Let Go, Jesse Sykes and The Sweet Hereafter, Menomena -- plus tons of other bands and special guests! The links below have all been updated, and non-VIP wristbands are available to get you in to all four shows for a mere sixty dollars. They're on sale now, so get to clicking!

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It's a red-letter day, you guys!!

Last weekBack in June, our friends at Barsuk announced their fifteen year anniversary celebration. After we all get our faces melted off listening to Death Cab for Cutie run Transatlanticism start-to-finish at Bumbershoot, we'll have a mere sixty days until a weekend of incredible shows: from Thursday, November 7th through Sunday, November 10th, Barsuk will be showcasing present and alumni artists at lineups across town; specifically, at the Showbox, the Neptune, the Tractor, and Neumos / Barboza. Holy shit!

Before you start building your fantasy shows off of the roster {like, Ben Gibbard doing a set of All-Time Quarterback songs to open up for John Vanderslice opening up for Nada Surf at the Tractor, maybe?}, get this: today at noon, Barsuk is selling fifty pre-sale wristbands that get you into all four shows, with Uber transportation to and from each one and a complete set of limited edition numbered and signed screenprints {by Jason Munn}. The wristbands are $175.00, which works out to about $43.00 per show for the bands and a ride and a poster. That's not new math or anything, it's just a really fucking good deal. In fact, it saves you money! And PS, all of the net proceeds -- all of them, from these wristbands and all of the single show tickets -- are going to benefit Gilda's Club Seattle.

So: set your timer for 11:55a PST, bust out that credit card, and head on over to the ticketing page to get ready -- these wristbands are going to sell out in a hot minute. As the lineups are announced and single-show tickets go on sale later this month, we'll be sure to post all the details, so check back often for news!

As most of the music industry flocks to Austin, Texas this week each March for South By Southwest, I find myself considering the often-unwieldy animal of festival atmospheres: why some are great, why some are terrible; in the case of the latter, why we attend them regardless. It doesn't really seem fair to put them all up on the chopping block against each other -- the conference-centered SxSW and CMJ, for example (daytime panels embedded within a town / city-wide sprawl of showcases and performances), can't exactly go apples-to-apples with Sasquatch! or Austin City Limits (multiple stages in a contained, open area). But whether it's a festival for the ages or one that's still wet behind the ears (like this year's Timber!), a few threads run common between them: as an attendee, we're going to be elbow-to-elbow with several thousand people experiencing varying levels of intoxication, sometimes with little reprieve from the sun, with long lines for the restrooms and either 'rough' or expensive, off-site accomodations.

So why do we do it? Especially here in Seattle, where we're fortunate enough to have bands performing every night of the week, our calendars often bursting at the seams? Well, if you're anything like me, the answer is simple: we do it for the music. We do it for the one-of-a-kind experience, we do it to see a bunch of our favorite performers centered in one spot -- and we do it because a good lineup trumps every single one of those sweaty, drunk bodies standing between us and our collective moment of band-umami. It's really not fair to say who does this best or worst -- I've had equal moments of near-nirvana seeing the Wrens at the Mercury Lounge in 2005 as I have in a throng of several thousand people watching Elbow at ACL a few years back -- but it's safe to say that the one place I've experienced the highest levels of awesome with the lowest levels of bullshit is at the Northwest's very own Pickathon.

Last year's Pickathon was my first, and while it's pretty specifically curated (most bands centering around roots music, be it new-roots or indie-roots of Roots-roots), it was by far my favorite of all the festivals I'd attended in 2012 and years previous. It was by no means banjos-only -- the bands ranged from Neko Case and Langhorne Slim to THEESatisfaction and Thee Oh Sees, just to call out a few -- yet if you did see or hear a banjo, it was totally approriate and in context, and not showing up attached to some porkpie-hat wearing kid as an interesting prop. This year's lineup promises more of the same wide spectrum, with headliners like Feist and Andrew Bird, along with Sharon van Etten, Sallie Ford and The Sound Outside, Howe Gelb, and Foxygen {full lineup here} slated to take the stages. Thoughtful lineup aside for a moment, though, there are a lot of factors that make Pickathon worthy of consideration for your live music budget expenditures for 2013.

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If you're itching to get out of town this weekend, consider this: Timber! is a brand-new outdoor music festival taking place this year in good ol' Carnation, WA, this Friday and Saturday {July 26th - 27th}. Set in the serene backdrop of Tolt-Macdonald Park, and brought to you by the same people that organize Doe Bay each year -- Artist Home Presents -- Timber! has quite the respectable lineup for a first-year fest, providing a great alternative to the hustle and bustle that our friends at the Capitol Hill Block Party bring to the Hill each summer.

One of our favorite Seattle bands is in the throes of releasing their new EP, Stories and Fictions. The 7 songs (plus one demo) are cheerful and comforting, sweetened with pop and an "Untitled Song About Cats." They aren't intimidated by much. They lay orchestra strings along side punk punches to craft songs that are both distinguished and addictive.

The EP will hit store shelves on July 30, but you can listen to it (on repeat) on the Exohxo website right now. "Sunshine All Around" is my favorite. It's a great summer anthem. "Crushed Ice," which kicks off the EP, solidifies their orchestral pop tag with flowing waves of symphonic bliss.

Needless to say, we are counting down to their album release show at the Columbia City Theater on August 1, 2013 with Cloud Person and Gibraltar.

And now, they are letting you try your hand at mixing their songs. The smarties in the Exohxo camp have put together an online mixer for folks to create their own custom remixes of the aforementioned cats song. It's like all the fun of the EMP Sound Lab without the long lines at the remix board. Want to cut out those pesky keys and drums? You can! Or make it high on the strings and box tip! You can morph it however you want!

HELLO POSIES FANS! I know you're out there. And I know you'll be excited to know (if you don't already) that Jon Auer will be back in Seattle performing a one night only show in Ballard at The Volterra Drawing Room next Friday, 7/26.

For $23 (OH HO HO) you can get GA tickets, and for $100, you can get early VIP access to meet & greet Jon, partake of hosted wine and light appetizers, AND GET reserved seating! Plus, Mr. Auer will play one song of your choice during his set. There will also be a cash bar for the cocktail lovers.

Volterra's lovely owner, Michelle Q., just let me know that there are only 15 tickets left for this amazing event! And amazing, it is. I was there last time, and the setting is intimate and cozy and so much fun. Jon is a fantastic performer, and is always interacting with the crowd and playing fan favorites. It's a perfect way to spend your evening, and I highly recommend you buy tickets ASAP.

Latest comment by: Ruth Carter: "It's a perfect way to spend your evening, and I highly recommend you buy tickets as soon as possible, enjoy it !
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We started off the week with the Triple Door's Movie Monday series, and now we've got a great recommendation for your pre-weekend jam: starting this Thursday {and continuing through September}, KEXP's own Greg Vandy will be hosting second Thursdays at TheRoyal Room in Columbia City as part of his American Standard Time showcase series. The nights will feature live performances and DJ sets by Greg himself, along with on-stage chats and artist interviews. Killer! If you haven't been, The Royal Room is a cool, intimate space with a low stage, full food menu, and an all-around good vibe. Plus, attendance is free -- the venue just asks that you pay what you can via donation envelopes on your table for the bands.

We're particularly excited about this week's installment, as the series kicks off with headliner Kevin Murphy of The Moondoggies. While this won't be a Moondoggies show -- he's billed as Kevin Murphy and the Allman Butters -- we'd be remiss not to mention how stoked we are on the band's upcoming release, Adios I'm A Ghost {out August 13th on Hardly Art}. If you've been turned into KEXP lately, you've likely caught wind of one of the singles, "Red Eye," a short, catchy jaunt that showcases everything we love about this band: gorgeous harmonies blended with straight-forward chugging guitars, served with a heaping side of sad bastard:

Happy Monday, everyone! Still recovering from the weekend? Us too! That's why we'll be heading over to the Triple Door tonight {and every Monday through most of August} for this week's installment of Movie Mondays -- the very best low-key hang in town.

Movie Mondays kicked off two weeks ago with Hype!, and last week the one and only Grease was up on the big screen. Tonight one of our all-time favorites, High Fidelity, will be playing at the stroke of 8, and we hope to see you there! Admission is a mere $3, and if you get there early, you can also take advantage of the Triple Door's great happy hour specials.

Getting a chance to watch Rob knock Ian's teeth out with an actual phone on a big screen? And potstickers? YES PLEASE.

Listen up, friends to the south! Our lovely pals Meagan Grandall and KendraCox (who you know better as Lemolo) are putting on a very special show this coming Saturday {7/6} in Tacoma: they'll be playing their debut album The Kaleidoscope from start to finish, with a dance troupe performing in sync for the entire show. Even if you're not in Tacoma, you should plan to go to Tacoma, because this will absolutely be worth the trip.

Okay, don't be scared. I know it sounds like the music of Lemolo being put to interpretive dance, because it is. But it's more than that! It's a big-dream collaborative idea that was hatched by some dancers in attendance at last year's album release show at Columbia City Theater -- and after a year of scheming and rehearsing, The BareFoot Collective and the MLK Ballet have turned that dream into a reality. Lemolo's soundscapey gorgeousness coupled with some of the most talented performance artists in Washington state? Yes please. I mean, seriously, these tracks are practically begging for performance art accompaniment:

We've got a very important anniversary to celebrate here at imaginary headquarters. Ten years ago this week our very dear and very wonderful friend Jason Doctor, known by the imaginary name sero(tone)in, took the reigns of our imaginary show calendar as Calendar Editor-in-Chief.

Day in and day out, for the past 10 years, Jason has kept the Three Imaginary Girls calendar stocked full of all the show goings on in this town as well as infusing it with his learned recommendations.

He fearlessly tames the Three Imaginary Girls calendar email alias, wading through thousands of emails and the various weekly paper ads and announcements all in the name of keeping Seattle up to date on what shows they should go see (or at least be aware of).

When he's not devoting all that time and hard work to the site, he's a brilliant barstool companion. He's a clever fountain of information about what happened at recent shows, what albums should be on our iPod, and what restaurants we should go to. His dry wit is unmatched and champion-grade. Oh, and dude can craft a fancy cocktail and bake a killer pie.

And, truthfully, we still don't know why he puts up with us.

I could post 100s of videos of songs he's introduced us to. But this one, a song by the Cure and performed by one of his favorite bands, always brings a smile to my face: Superchunk covering "In Between Days".

To loosely paraphrase Robert Smith (as sung by Mac McCaughan), "there couldn't be us... without you, Jason Doctor!" (That is what they are singing, right?)